FEATURE
www.DelcoBar.org
O. WARREN HIGGINS MEMORIAL RESOLUTION
T O. Warren Higgins was very active with the Delaware County Bar Association well into his late 80s. An avid archivist, he resurrected the old slave docket and the first docket in Delaware County Court, both of which pre-date the Revolution. He worked to have these dockets preserved and showcased for future generations. He served as Chairman of the Historical Records Committee for many years and for that, we the present, thank Warren for recovering and sharing the past! History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days. ~Winston Churchill
14 | Fall 2014
oday we remember one of the true gentlemen, consummate professional, and ceaseless contributor to the Delaware County Bar Association—O. Warren Higgins. Warren was born and raised in the Penfield section of Haverford Township. He was the only child of Oliver T. Higgins and Edna M. Higgins. His father, who was better known as “Buddy” by his friends and associates, was employed as a draftsman by the Westinghouse Corporation in Lester. He also served as a Commissioner in Haverford Township, serving in that capacity for nineteen years and was president of the Board of Commissioners for twelve successive years. Warren attended the Haverford Township public schools and graduated from Haverford High School in June of 1936. During his formative years he participated in the Boy Scouts and became an Eagle Scout also in 1936. While in high school, he was named to the National Honor Society, played halfback on the soccer team and was a miler on the track team. Upon graduation from high school, he was awarded a scholarship to Bucknell University which he attended from 1936 to 1940. While at Bucknell, he was a member of the soccer team, was a student assistant to the Dean of the university, and was a member of Phi Kappa Psi—as were at different times, Guy Messick, Harry Spiess and Mike Wenke. Throughout his life, Warren remained an avid and active member of the Bucknell community. Following his graduation from Bucknell, he was awarded a scholarship to Duke University Law School. During his first year at Duke University Law School, an event happened on December 7, 1941—the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor—which resulted in Warren being drafted into the U.S. Army Air Corps in June of 1942. Stateside, Warren was stationed in Biloxi Air Corps Base, Mississippi, for basic training, then shipped to Fort Logan Air Corps Administrative School, Denver, Colorado, where he served as an instructor, and then to Ogden Air Force Base, Ogden, Utah, where he was on special duty as an auditor. He was then transferred overseas to Manila in the Philippines and then to the islands of Okinawa, where he became Acting First Sergeant of the Air Service Group Squadron. Once the Japanese surrendered, his squadron was sent to Japan as part of the occupation forces. His tour of service with the Army Air Corps ended in early 1946 after surviving a typhoon while at sea on his way back to the states. Deciding to remain local, Warren applied to the University of Pennsylvania Law School and received credit for his year at Duke. He was accepted and enrolled as a second-year student together with Sam Blank, Read Rocap and Bill Pugh—all members of our Bar. He graduated from Penn Law School and was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar on September 24, 1948. Warren commenced practice in Media in a firm which included his preceptor, William R. Toal, Sr. Joining them were Albert J. Crawford and John R. Graham. When William R. Toal,